Fashion / Shopping

An Honest Christmas List: From a Rare Eloise to CBD Gummies and a Beaver Creek Dream, This is What She Really Wants Under the Tree

BY // 12.04.18

Editor’s note: PaperCity’s counting down to the holidays with ultra-curated and distinctive gift guides.

These are the things I really do want…

There, I said it.

I fall into the category of the awkward gift-receiver. Ask me what I want for a birthday, Christmas, or any special celebration and I will balk with a half-hearted, “Oh, you don’t have to get me anything.”

And, typically, my answer is genuine. I blush red as a tomato upon receiving gifts large and small. Never was I the child who loved opening up her birthday presents in front of all the party guests.

So, I thought, why not give it a go. Why not dream big. Why not self-indulge. (This year has been all about the trending notion of self-care, yes?) Why not shout it to the rooftops, “I want! I want! I want!”

Set your Easter Table with Bering's

Swipe
  • Bering's Gift's Easter 2024
  • Bering's Gift's Easter 2024
  • Bering's Gift's Easter 2024
  • Bering's Gift's Easter 2024
  • Bering's Gift's Easter 2024
  • Bering's Gift's Easter 2024
  • Bering's Gift's Easter 2024
  • Bering's Gift's Easter 2024
  • Bering's Gift's Easter 2024
  • Bering's Gift's Easter 2024
  • Bering's Gift's Easter 2024

Alas, before I become a real Veruca Salt, I’ll get on with it. Here, the first “Dear Santa” list I have put together in quite a long time.

Anything from the Hilary Knight sale at Bonhams on December 5. Would love the oil painting of Eloise — but, should I be outbid, I would absolutely settle for Christian Dior’s party-dress sketch for the Plaza’s fictional queen. Rawwwther fabulous, no?

Bonhams Fine Books and Manuscripts Including the World of Hilary Knight auction, December 5, New York; all lots to preview at bonhams.com.

Hilary Knight’s original Plaza Hotel portrait of Eloise, tempera on board, 1956

 

Joanna Czech is the skin whisperer. Ask anyone. People take her word about their visage like it is gospel. And for good reason. All my friends who see her regularly are not simply ageless — no, they appear to have skin that gets younger by the day.

So, I request this perfect little gift set — the For Her CzechBox Luxe Gift Set, to be exact — so I can give myself a little Czech-up at home. Side note: Mizz Czech designed this face roller — so you know it’s better than all those jade rollers you’ve tried on a whim via Amazon.

Joanna Czech, For Her CzechBox Luxe Gift Set with Joanna Czech facial massager, 111Skin rose gold brightening mask, Knesko diamond radiance sheet mask, and 111Skin bio cellulose mask, $250, at the Joanna Czech spa and joannaczech.com.

Joanna Czech For Her Luxe Gift Set, $250

 

Here’s the deal. I live in a modest, 800-square-foot apartment, with very little room for entertaining. When I host parties, the scene is as cramped and disheveled as the party Holly Golightly threw, while clad in a tiara and a toga. Indeed, my apartment parties even come complete with cats (two, no less) that mingle around atop furniture and other odd places.

Still, I collect linen cocktail napkins as if I had enough room to graciously host a formal affair for 300. And I simply can’t get enough of August Morgan — not only because they are beautifully embroidered, but because the caricatures on them make me laugh out loud. A win-win should I be sipping with a slew of friends or solo on the apartment sofa.

August Morgan Down the Hatch cocktail napkins, $38 for a set of four, at augustmorgan.com.

August Morgan Down the Hatch cocktail napkins, $38 for a set of four

 

If I haven’t yet preached to you my obsession with CBD, then it’s likely we have never met. Seriously. Anyone I come across tends to get my CBD lecture: Call it nature’s Xanax; the cure-all for nerves and sleeplessness. Simply put, it is the overall remedy for shoulders-to-your-ears tension — something of which I am all too familiar.

You see, while I love my little life at our dear PaperCity, during deadline I am prone to all of the above ailments en masse. So it was that I discovered CBD — and my favorite purveyor of the edible kind, Lord Jones.

For those not familiar: CBD is extracted from marijuana (hemp) plants, but contains no THC — the chemical responsible for getting you high. So, instead of feeling like a character from Cheech & Chong, a little Lord Jones gummy will have you feeling just, well, better. Mind quieted. Body at ease. Head-to-toe goodness. I adore the dark chocolate espresso chews, but in the holiday spirit will obviously opt for the high-CBD holiday gum drops in sugarplum and mango chili flavor.

Lord Jones limited-edition High CBD Holiday Gum Drops in sugarplum and mango chili, $50 per box, at Grange Hall, Forty Five Ten, Stanley Korshak, the Greenway Shop, and lordjones.com.

Lord Jones limited edition high CBD all natural holiday gum drops, $50

 

A couple winters ago, I made my first trek to Beaver Creek — a fun little weekend of snowshoeing and skiing, and plenty of fireside cocktails. This year for Christmas, dear Santa, please slip the gift of vacation under my tree.

Here’s the scoop: I’d like the full Trappers Cabin experience in Beaver Creek. (You may need to pull out your wallet, S.C., this package fetches $50,000 at its start.) It’s all inclusive in a luxury kind of way, with first class airfare, private helicopter ride to the secluded cabin, and plenty of exclusive experiences from snowy picnics and first-tracks access to a ski concierge, which will alleviate the nightmare that is lugging around your own skis.

I’ll supply four friends, dear Santa, if you do the rest.

Trappers Cabin experience at Beaver Creek, from $50,000, beavercreek.com.

Trappers Cabin at Beaver Creek

 

I love a good Instagram discovery — a fabulous recipe (thank you @basically); a new fashion must-have (see: @chatelles_slippers); or a secluded destination to add to my travel list (someone please book me a trip to @amangalla).

But one of my most beloved Instagram finds has, well, absolutely nothing to do with the digital world at all. Rather, it’s all about paper and the art of beautiful stationery. (Can I get an amen?!)

I’m not sure how Bernard Maisner first landed in my social-media scroll, but I am so glad he did. The man is an absolute artist with his beautifully calligraphed and hand-painted cards. This season, I covet a whole stack of his large-format whimsical notes that are, in fact, holiday games.

The Wonderful Card Full of Wishes comes with a spinning wishing wheel to point at your holiday fortune; and Maisner’s Game of Delights of the Holiday Season comes with a spinning arrow, game pieces, and instructions.

These statement note cards will bring plenty of magic (and old-school fun) to the mailboxes of the lucky recipients on my Christmas card list. And, if you’re like me and nary throw away a handwritten card, then these will certainly wind up as part of your Christmas décor for years to come.

Bernard Maisner note card, $50 each, bernardmaisner.com.

Bernard Maisner Game of Delights of the Holiday Season card, $50

 

I am positively convinced that few families have better taste in this city than the Boulles. Karen and Denis Boulle, as well as their son, Nick, have built a rather impressive namesake collection over the last several years — and this toggle necklace checks all of my boxes. It makes a statement in the most elegant and discreet way, with its 5.44-carat weight — and those diamonds all set in gorgeous 18K rose gold. It is the perfect piece to help me shine my way into 2019.

De Boulle collection Lariat toggle necklace, $18,650, at de Boulle and deboulle.com.

de Boulle Collection Lariat toggle necklace, $18,650

Visit Dallas' premier open-air shopping and dining destination.

Highland Park Village Shop Now

Featured Properties

Swipe
X
X